Jacek Zielonka, PhD | Assistant Professor | Medical College of Wisconsin

Jacek Zielonka, PhD, DSc

Assistant Professor; Research Director, Free Radical Research Center

Locations

Biophysics
TBRC 0780

Contact Information

Biography

After completing my PhD training in 2002, I worked for 1.5 years as a lecturer at the Lodz University of Technology in Poland. In 2004, I joined the Department of Biophysics as a postdoctoral fellow, working on the chemistry of probes for cellular oxidizing species. In 2007, I became the research scientist and, in 2015, I became research director of the MCW Free Radical Research Center. I am now an assistant professor in the Department of Biophysics.

I have expertise in the redox chemistry of biologically relevant compounds and bioanalytical techniques used in the area of oxidative stress research. I have a strong background in free radical chemistry and chemical and biochemical kinetics. I am experienced in a variety of analytical techniques including high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with absorption, fluorescence, mass spectrometric, and electrochemical detection. I have co-authored 70 publications on various aspects of free radical chemistry and biochemistry, on the methodology of the detection of free radicals in biological systems, as well as on cellular bioenergetics as a target for development of new therapeutics. I have served as an editorial board member of Free Radical Biology and Medicine since since 2012.

Education

DSc, Chemical Sciences, Lodz University of Technology, Poland, 2015
PhD with honours, Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, Poland, 2002
MSc with honours, Chemistry and Chemistry Technology, Lodz University of Technology, Poland, 1998

Research Interests

My current research interests focus on the development of new, rapid methods of detection of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. My research involves probe design and synthesis; characterization of chemical reactivity of probes, including determination of the reaction products, stoichiometry, and kinetics; and application of various noninvasive and invasive detection modes for complete and rigorous characterization of cellular oxidants in vitro and in vivo.

The goal of developing new probes is to understand the chemical biology of cellular oxidants under physiological and pathophysiological conditions and to establish high-throughput screening protocols for the development of new inhibitors of NADPH oxidases and other enzymes producing reactive oxygen and nitrogen species for cardioprotection, neuroprotection, and cancer treatment.

Another of my research interests is exploiting the differences in bioenergetics profiles and redox status between normal and cancer cells for development of strategies to selectively target cancer cells. My research focuses on the design and development of compounds engineered to selectively accumulate in cancer cell mitochondria and induce bioenergetic and redox stress to stop cancer cell proliferation.

Collaborators
Dr. Micael Hardy, Aix-Marseille Universite, Marseille, France
Dr. Adam Sikora, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland
Dr. Radosław Podsiadły, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland
Dr. Radosław Michalski, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland

Mitochondria-Targeted Honokiol Confers a Striking Inhibitory Effect on Lung Cancer via Inhibiting Complex I Activity.

(Pan J, Lee Y, Cheng G, Zielonka J, Zhang Q, Bajzikova M, Xiong D, Tsaih SW, Hardy M, Flister M, Olsen CM, Wang Y, Vang O, Neuzil J, Myers CR, Kalyanaraman B, You M.) iScience. 2018 May 25;3:192-207.
Foreword to the Free Radical Biology and Medicine Special Issue on ¨Current fluorescence and chemiluminescence approaches in free radical and redox biology¨.

(Radi R, Denicola A, Morgan B, Zielonka J.) Free Radic Biol Med. 2018 Nov 20;128:1-2.
Low-Temperature EPR Spectroscopy as a Probe-Free Technique for Monitoring Oxidants Formed in Tumor Cells and Tissues: Implications in Drug Resistance and OXPHOS-Targeted Therapies.

(Kalyanaraman B, Cheng G, Zielonka J, Bennett B.) Cell Biochem Biophys. 2018 Sep 26.
Detection of mitochondria-generated reactive oxygen species in cells using multiple probes and methods: Potentials, pitfalls, and the future.

(Cheng G, Zielonka M, Dranka B, Kumar SN, Myers CR, Bennett B, Garces AM, Dias Duarte Machado LG, Thiebaut D, Ouari O, Hardy M, Zielonka J, Kalyanaraman B.) J Biol Chem. 2018 Jun 29;293(26):10363-10380.
Kindlin-3 negatively regulates the release of neutrophil extracellular traps.

(Xu Z, Ni B, Cao Z, Zielonka J, Gao J, Chen F, Kalyanaraman B, White GC, Ma YQ.) J Leukoc Biol. 2018 Sep;104(3):597-602.
Small-molecule luminescent probes for the detection of cellular oxidizing and nitrating species.

(Zielonka J, Kalyanaraman B.) Free Radic Biol Med. 2018 Nov 20;128:3-22.
Corrigendum to 'A review of the basics of mitochondrial bioenergetics, metabolism, and related signaling pathways in cancer cells: Therapeutic targeting of tumor mitochondria with lipophilic cationic compounds' [REDOX 14C (2017) 316-327].

(Kalyanaraman B, Cheng G, Hardy M, Ouari O, Lopez M, Joseph J, Zielonka J, Dwinell MB.) Redox Biol. 2018 06;16:426-427.
Teaching the basics of reactive oxygen species and their relevance to cancer biology: Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species detection, redox signaling, and targeted therapies.

(Kalyanaraman B, Cheng G, Hardy M, Ouari O, Bennett B, Zielonka J.) Redox Biol. 2018 05;15:347-362.
Corrigendum to European contribution to the study of ROS: A summary of the findings and prospects for the future from the COST action BM1203 (EU-ROS) [Redox Biol. 13 (2017) 94-162].

(Egea J, Fabregat I, Frapart YM, Ghezzi P, Görlach A, Kietzmann T, Kubaichuk K, Knaus UG, Lopez MG, Olaso-Gonzalez G, Petry A, Schulz R, Vina J, Winyard P, Abbas K, Ademowo OS, Afonso CB, Andreadou I, Antelmann H, Antunes F, Aslan M, Bachschmid MM, Barbosa RM, Belousov V, Berndt C, Bernlohr D, Bertrán E, Bindoli A, Bottari SP, Brito PM, Carrara G, Casas AI, Chatzi A, Chondrogianni N, Conrad M, Cooke MS, Costa JG, Cuadrado A, My-Chan Dang P, De Smet B, Debelec-Butuner B, Dias IHK, Dunn JD, Edson AJ, El Assar M, El-Benna J, Ferdinandy P, Fernandes AS, Fladmark KE, Förstermann U, Giniatullin R, Giricz Z, Görbe A, Griffiths H, Hampl V, Hanf A, Herget J, Hernansanz-Agustín P, Hillion M, Huang J, Ilikay S, Jansen-Dürr P, Jaquet V, Joles JA, Kalyanaraman B, Kaminskyy D, Karbaschi M, Kleanthous M, Klotz LO, Korac B, Korkmaz KS, Koziel R, Kračun D, Krause KH, Křen V, Krieg T, Laranjinha J, Lazou A, Li H, Martínez-Ruiz A, Matsui R, McBean GJ, Meredith SP, Messens J, Miguel V, Mikhed Y, Milisav I, Milković L, Miranda-Vizuete A, Mojović M, Monsalve M, Mouthuy PA, Mulvey J, Münzel T, Muzykantov V, Nguyen ITN, Oelze M, Oliveira NG, Palmeira CM, Papaevgeniou N, Pavićević A, Pedre B, Peyrot F, Phylactides M, Pircalabioru GG, Pitt AR, Poulsen HE, Prieto I, Rigobello MP, Robledinos-Antón N, Rodríguez-Mañas L, Rolo AP, Rousset F, Ruskovska T, Saraiva N, Sasson S, Schröder K, Semen K, Seredenina T, Shakirzyanova A, Smith GL, Soldati T, Sousa BC, Spickett CM, Stancic A, Stasia MJ, Steinbrenner H, Stepanić V, Steven S, Tokatlidis K, Tuncay E, Turan B, Ursini F, Vacek J, Vajnerova O, Valentová K, Van Breusegem F, Varisli L, Veal EA, Yalçın AS, Yelisyeyeva O, Žarković N, Zatloukalová M, Zielonka J, Touyz RM, Papapetropoulos A, Grune T, Lamas S, Schmidt HHHW, Di Lisa F, Daiber A.) Redox Biol. 2018 04;14:694-696.
Detection and Characterization of Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species in Biological Systems by Monitoring Species-Specific Products.

(Hardy M, Zielonka J, Karoui H, Sikora A, Michalski R, Podsiadły R, Lopez M, Vasquez-Vivar J, Kalyanaraman B, Ouari O.) Antioxid Redox Signal. 2018 May 20;28(15):1416-1432.
A review of the basics of mitochondrial bioenergetics, metabolism, and related signaling pathways in cancer cells: Therapeutic targeting of tumor mitochondria with lipophilic cationic compounds.

(Kalyanaraman B, Cheng G, Hardy M, Ouari O, Lopez M, Joseph J, Zielonka J, Dwinell MB.) Redox Biol. 2018 04;14:316-327.
Recent Developments in the Probes and Assays for Measurement of the Activity of NADPH Oxidases.

(Zielonka J, Hardy M, Michalski R, Sikora A, Zielonka M, Cheng G, Ouari O, Podsiadły R, Kalyanaraman B.) Cell Biochem Biophys. 2017 Dec;75(3-4):335-349.